Bleeding Out
by GetWellHarley
Summary: "My hand suddenly slipped, the loose bit of earth crumbling away beneath my weight. A scream escaped my lips as I fell into the vast hole, and into a new chapter of my life." Sakura finds herself in her Wonderland. But, Wonderland isn't all smiles, and it needs her help. Torn between reality and the new world, Sakura will have to choose what to believe in and where she belongs. AU
1. Keep Me Breathing

**Harley: It's always awful when a plot bunny rears its ugly head during school, because I have to wait to get home to start it.**

**I don't own Naruto, or any songs associated with this fanfiction.**

**WARNINGS:** Language, Blood, Dark?, Hurt/Comfort, Angst-ish?

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Chapter 1 - Keep Me Breathing

_"We all breath and we all bleed,_

_We get lost inbetween,_

_Searching for what we need,_

_I'ts hard to see underneath the lies,_

_Underneath the lies."_

_-Keep Me Breathing by Ashes Remain_

**Sakura Haruno**

Mixed lines of blues and greens blended, making a vibrant oceanic color across my paper. It was amazing what one could do with a few colored pencils. Though most would prefer the thickness and stable effect of paints, I was content with using pencils to make my art. Pencils, markers, clay, almost everything aside from paint. I never felt right painting, like I never got the image I was trying to create from inside of my mind. So, instead, I stuck to other mediums to take out my stress and creativity.

"I'm about to leave, Sakura, so you'll need to finish up here soon," the art teacher, Ms. Kurenai, called to me softly from the front of the room.

Not many people would willing spend another hour after school on a Friday like I did. But my school art project had suddenly become my baby. I'd never expected to become so enamored with it. Normally I only got that way with my personal art projects, but something about the subject had allured me. Luckily, Ms. Kurenai stayed after school every day and was kind enough to allow me to stay behind until she'd left for home. I would have to wait a whole weekend and six class periods before I could start working on my baby again.

Tongue poking out of my lip, against my spider-bites, I finished up the last few lines I knew I'd be able to get done. I put my pencils back into their rightful place of the rainbow, before folding up my pencil binder and packing it away into my comic-strip backpack. I straightened out my green Triforce shirt as I hopped off of the stool I'd been sitting on. I made sure my name was on the corner of my art, before taking it off the easel to go go and put it in the back.

"From what I've seen, it's looking really good, Sakura," Ms. Kurenai said as she picked up her bags.

"Thanks," I said, meeting her at the classroom door with my own bag strung over my right shoulder. "I hadn't expected to get so into it, but all of it is just coming out by itself."

We waded into more small talk as we walked for the front door. How the weather was, the end of the school year was close, can't believe that the seniors pulled that prank, and how finals were just around the corner. As we walked through the front doors, both of us giving a fair well to the nice janitor, I saw a friend of mine sitting on a bench next to the exit.

"Naruto?" I asked softly, raising my brow.

The blond's head shot up, blue eyes sparkling with life. "Sakura! Sasuke asked me to stay behind and give you a ride home. He said he had to go to your house to get something before the three of us went out. His jacket or something...?"

Kurenai offered us a smile and farewell, leaving us there as she walked to her car. I turned back to Naruto, nodding softly. "Yeah, he left it at my house after our date last night. I forgot to bring it to him this morning."

Naruto chuckled, waggling his eyes brows at me suggestively. "Oh, I _see_. He left it at your house, after the daaattteee. I get it."

I laughed at his antic, punching him in the arm. "Idiot. You know we're not like that. We've only kissed. We watched a movie when we got home."

I loved my friends. Something a lot of high schoolers say, but not a lot of them mean it. But, truly and wholly, my friends were my life. I would be nothing without them. Sasuke, Naruto, and I had been best friend since middle school and had actually stuck through it all until now, our junior year. We've been through a lot of fights and hard times, but some how managed to pull through. I had other friends, don't get me wrong, but no one could ever replace them. They'd always been their for me.

At the beginning of this year, Naruto and our other friends snuck around and somehow got Sasuke to ask me out. I'd had feeling for my dark-haired best friend since freshman year, but had been too stubborn to admit it to him. But, when he asked, I'd been thrilled. We'd been holding strong and were very content with our new relationship. I'd worried that it would've messed with the three of us, but Naruto had been happy for us. Even said he was glad, and that maybe then the sexual tension would go down. I hit him.

The two of us walked towards his car, passing what looked to be the kids getting out of detention. It was the usual crowd. Sasuke's older brother Itachi and his friends. They practically owned the detention room. This time, it'd been for the senior prank that they'd all pulled. It wasn't hard to tell who, considering one of them had left one of their little gang jackets at the crime scene.

As we passed, one of the red-heads of their little group was staring at me as he threw his back-pack into the passenger seat. His face was completely covered in piercings. Snake bits, three on each side of his nose, eyebrow, and all up his ears plus an industrial bar through the middle. From what I'd heard but never seen with my own eyes, it was said that he also had a tongue piercing. His eyes were a lazy blue, striking yet surprisingly allured. His named was Pein, and he had a twin named Yahiko.

I liked his piercings myself, but couldn't bring myself to get any more than the six in each ear and the spider-bites on my lip. I wasn't too good with needles, so I always panicked a bit before each piercing. I decided to call it quits after nearly fainting during my lip piercing.

We locked eyes for a moment, the back of my head giving a faint tingle. I tore my gaze away from his as I reached the passenger side of Naruto's car. I threw my backpack onto the floor beneath my feet, scrambling in to try and get away from the heat of Pein's gaze across my back. I was just clicking my seatbelt into it's place when Naruto went screaming out of the parking lot, tossing me around in the belt that I'd luckily got on.

"Naruto, slow the hell down!" I laughed, trying to catch my breath as my heart beat frantically in my chest. "If you get pulled over I'll be ticked."

Naruto grinned sheepishly at me, rubbing the back of his head with one hand and steering with other. How a hazard like my blond haired friend got a license in the first place was an astonishing query, one that would probably never be answered.

"We're going back to my place to pick up Sasuke, right?" I asked, knowing that Sasuke's car was now in the shop so Naruto was the designated group driver.

A nervous look crossed Naruto's face, and he dug around in his pocket. "Uh, uh, yeah. Give me a second. I'll text the bastard and ask him if he's ready to be picked up."

That in itself was peculiar. It was my house, and Sasuke was only getting his jacket. It shouldn't have been long for him to grab it, it was right on the back of the couch where he'd left it the other night.

I brushed Naruto's strangeness off. He'd probably meant that he'd text Sasuke to tell him that we're on our way and had phrased it oddly.

After a while, however, I'd noticed that we were driving around aimlessly. Naruto had passed the road to my house several times, once even bribing me with an ice cream cone from the local Dairy Queen. I took that bribe, obviously, but once I was down to last bite of my chocolate ice cream cone, I was suspicious again.

"Why are you just driving around, Naruto?" I demanded, fixing my friend with a hard stare.

"Sasuke hasn't texted me back, give me a second," Naruto mumbled, reaching for his phone once more.

"Naruto, you almost killed us the first time you pulled your phone out. Don't text and drive, idiot. It's obvious he's not going to answer, just take us to my house, pick him up, and get this show on the road," I said, swiping his phone from him.

I watched as my friend seemed to grow more nervous, swallowing hesitantly as he began to make his way towards my house. I was slightly hurt, knowing that he was hiding something from me. We'd always told each other everything. Sasuke was always hesitant and reserved about his feelings, but Naruto and I were always out there with how we felt. Not that we wore our hearts on our sleeves, but we were comfortable enough with each other to tell what was going on.

Biting my tongue, I let it slide. Naruto had been a little off recently. For about a month he'd seemed a bit peculiar at times. I'd been letting it slide, figuring that he would come to talk with me about it eventually. But, now, it seemed that he was very adamant about keeping his mouth shut. It made me feel a bit sad, but I couldn't force him into talking. Hopefully, he would come to me eventually with what was bothering him.

The lane turning to my house was coming up, and I saw Naruto hesitate with his turn signal, debating whether he should pass it again or actually turn. I fixed him with a sharp glare, letting him know that I was fully prepared to take the wheel into my own hands. The road was empty, it always was if I ever did something like that. I'd done it once or twice before when he was being idiot, but this time I was dead serious.

At my glance, he flicked the signal and turned onto the lane. I relaxed slightly in my seat, glad that was over with. The ice cream in my stomach was turning against me, making my stomach clench and turn. I was hoping to get some Tums before the three of us left to go hang out with the rest of our friends at that mall. That, and I had to get my wallet. I'd been saving on a new XBOX 360 game and I was going to swing by Gamestop during our hang-out time.

Naruto pulled into my drive, almost sweating bullet." U-uh, Sakura-"

"I'll be right back with Sasuke," I said, patting him on the shoulder before exiting the car with my bag slung over my shoulder.

I jogged to the front door, wanting to hurry so that we'd be able to catch everyone on time. My parents were gone, but I could tell from the music coming upstairs that my sister was home. On the left from the front entrance was the kitchen, but I passed it by and kept going straight to reach the living room. I paused when I found it empty. No TV on, no spiky-haired boyfriend sitting on the couch, and a certain jacket laying innocently where he'd left it the night before.

"Weird," I mumbled, before feeling my stomach bubble painfully.

The Tums were in the second floor bathroom cabinet, I remembered. My house had two bathrooms, one downstairs and one upstairs. We kept most of medicine in the one upstairs because the one downstairs wasn't used as often nor did it have a cabinet to store it in.

As I reached the top of the stairs, I froze. Sasuke was standing outside the bathroom door, in nothing but a white towel around his waist, with another in his hand to dry his dark hair. The door was slightly cracked open, steam from the hot, recently used shower billowing out of the room in gentle plumes of air. Just as I was about to tease him for the use of my bathroom, a feminine hand curled around the door and pulled it open. My sister came prancing out, a towel tucked around her modesty. She wrapped her arms around my boyfriend's torso sensually, giggling. He didn't push her away, letting her practically nude body push against his.

"That was amazing, Sasu. But, when are you going to dump my little sister? I don't like being second like this, and I don't want her to find out in a bad way."

I could hear the coo and pout in her tone. Karin had always been good at whining. She could definitely win the contest for it.

"Too late."

The two of them snapped around when they heard my faint whisper, their eyes wide with guilt and disbelief. A moment of stunned silence passed between the three of us, them too stunned for words and me desperately trying to keep my walls from crumbling. My eyes were stinging painfully, pulsing in effort to let the flood gates come loose. They didn't deserve my tears, I kept repeating in my head like a mantra.

"Sakura," Sasuke said, softly, his hand reaching out for me slowly.

"You're both disgusting," I whispered, seeing both of them flinch as though they'd been smacked.

I backed away, placing one foot on the stair below me. "I guess that means you're perfect for each other."

Spinning carefully on my heel, I took off down the stairs. I heard them shouting after me, but knew that neither would follow my outside without being dressed. I stopped seconds away from the front door upon hearing the faint purr of a motor beyond the thick wood, I remembered that Naruto was waiting for me outside in his car. Naruto, who'd been acting so shady. Naruto who'd stalled for _him_. Naruto who'd lied for _him_. Naruto who'd known all along.

I quickly turned back around and ran back into the living room. I marched for the back door, managing to slip through it just as I saw Sasuke come down the stairs quickly, his shirt hastily wrinkled and buttoned and without his belt through his jeans. I ran through the expanse of our large, open back yard with a quickness I'd never known I'd had before. Running had never been my strong suit, but maybe all the raw emotions pulsing through me were fueling my feet.

As I breached the tree line, straight into the forest beyond my backyard, all I knew was that I wanted to get away. I wanted to be alone, where I wouldn't be lied to or cheated on. I wanted a place where I could think clearly, without someone apologizing or looking guilty.

I needed to think. I needed air.

Air, sweet, sweet air, was not getting into my lungs properly. I'd never been a good runner because of my asthma. I could feel my lungs closing in, not only from the exertion but from the panicking stress acting up inside of me. I'd never done good under a lot of stress. It made my lungs seize up and send me into a panic attack. I could feel a fear so cold, dripping down my spine. I could feel its icy fingers grabbing at my lungs and squeezing, making them even tighter.

Something caught my foot mid-run, sending my crashing into the ground. The second my body stopped moving, the panic hit me with full force. I was coughing, gagging, wheezing for air. I flailed wildly for my bag, which safely kept my inhaler in the front pouch, my limbs shaking like the leaves on the trees above me. A choked sob came from my chest as I realized I couldn't reach it, the strap still inches away from my longest stretch. I was going to die out in the middle of the woods, and just because of my stupid friends and sister.

_'They're not worth dying for,'_ I whispered in my mind.

My fingers dug into the loamy earth beneath me, dirt burrowing underneath my short nails. The smell of grass was overwhelming, filling my senses. I was clawing, trying to rip oxygen into my lung, but each gasp only left me feeling more empty inside. I was getting light headed, the world swaying dangerously above me. I twisted onto my back, staring up at the sky through a break in the leaves. My head was pounding, my chest seizing and clenching, and the trees above me were spinning and dancing, zooming in and out of focus. The sky was spinning like it was about to fall right on top of me.

The edges of my vision began to dance, and I could myself slipping away. Just as my eyes closed, I felt the cool mouth piece of my inhale press against my lips. I parted them softly, holding the two puffs of life that came shortly after for ten second before breathing out. My chest slowly began to open up again, precious air being gently coaxed into my lungs. They felt less and less shriveled with each passing second, the medicine opening up the air of life again.

As consciousness began to filter back to me, my eyes fluttered open. A familiar face was blinking down at me, oceanic eyes filled with concern. Spiky blond hair was hanging around his face, framing the familiar structure. His lips were pursed, but broke into a large smile as he saw me coming back to the world.

"Hey, you're awake!" He yelled happily, leaning back as I sat up.

I stared at Naruto blankly, feeling a stinging hurt enter my chest. I wanted to smack him senseless and scream at him for lying and aiding Sasuke in hurting me. But, I couldn't force the words to come out. Not only because the air was too precious to lose, but because he looked absolutely ridiculous. He had some kind of whisker marks on each side of his face, three solid lines. Not only that, but a pair of what seemed to be fox ears were poking out from the top of his head.

He also seemed to have changed his clothes. Earlier he'd been wearing a plain orange t-shirt and jeans. Now, he was wearing a white button up, a pair of calf-length, orange, plaid pants, a similar old-fashion orange vest over the top of his shirt, a black tie, and a pair of old combat boots on his feet.

As I was examining his new attire, waiting for the next few breaths of air to give me enough strength to start throwing punches, I noticed something off about his pants. There was something poking out from his behind, through his pants. When I looked, I noticed they were nine fox tails. Just as I was wondering where he'd gotten the money to buy such ridiculous props and why he'd wear them, I saw that they were swaying and moving almost happily.

My eyes widened considerable, and I tried to keep myself calm so that I wouldn't go back into a panic attack. It was obviously a hallucination from my previous lack of oxygen. I would give myself a few more refreshing deep breaths, and there would be no more ears or tails or strange clothes.

"Man, I'd thought that you were going to die. Luckily, I saw you reach for your bag and managed to find that thing," He continued talking, as though he didn't know that I had bad asthma or the location of my inhaler.

"N-Naruto...," I seethed out through shaky breaths, feeling those stubborn tears building back up as my hurt came back full force.

Those blue eyes lit up with surprise. "Hey... how do you know my name?" He asked suspiciously.

Blinking at him slowly, I opened my mouth to snap at him to drop the act and demand he tell me why he betrayed me.

However, as the silence between us had opened up, it'd allowed a soft, light ticking noise to fill the air. Naruto's fox-ears were twitching in unison with the ticks, his eyes growing wide as though he'd just realized that the ticking was there. I watched as he pulled a pocket watch from his vest, clicking it open quickly. He was staring at the time, his eyes wide. I, however, was studying the design on the front of the watch. It was a nine-tailed fox, looking fierce and graceful at the same time. The seeming gold watch had the image engraved into it, the red, orange, and black colors standing out in bold line against the gold.

"D'aw, shit! I'm late!" Naruto groaned, shutting the watch with a soft click, stuffing it back into his pocked, and hastily jumping to his feet.

He ran right passed me without another word, his nine-tails bobbing behind him as he sprinted.

Picking up my inhaler from where he'd left it, I grasped it tightly in my hand and jumped to my feet. I took my bag and quickly swung it over my shoulder, before running off after him. I wanted my answers, even at the cost of another panic attack. Why he was playing these games, why he didn't tell me Sasuke and my sister were acting like bunnies every time I wasn't around, and why the hell he was dressed like he was.

I kept my eyes trained on the red in front of me, seeing as he was so far ahead of me that I could barely make out the color of his tale and orange clothing.

As I ran, I knew that we were entering parts of the forest that I'd never been in before. The bark on the trees were no longer the brown I'd remembered, but a snow white. The leaves were still green, but green to an extent I'd never seen before. A vibrant, bright, neon green. I had no time to examine these changes, however, as I chased after my oddly dressed friend.

I tried to catch up and keep my breath paced at the same time, which was difficult. I battled my body, trying to keep the air flowing and my lungs functioning. I forced myself to keep calm, not wanting another panic attack on my hands. I just wanted my friend to tell me the truth. I wanted the truth, and maybe, just maybe, I could find a way to forgive him in time. A long, long time.

"Naruto!" I coughed, "Stop!"

He did stop, right in front of a large tree. It was built like an ancient oak, but with white bark and the same vibrant green leaves. I was examining the sheer amazing height of the tree, glancing back down just in time to see Naruto jump right into a large hole in the base of the tree. He disappeared from sight completely, not a sound coming from the forest as I stared at the hole with wide eyes.

Hesitantly, I walked over to the hole. I fell to my knees in front of it, and with the knowledge that I was still receiving air well-enough, I tucked my inhaler into my pocket. It was pitch black inside the hole. I couldn't see the bottom or Naruto, and I wondered who on Earth could make such a large tunnel and why my friend would think it a good idea to jump right into it. Maybe he was just desperate to escape me, but part of me doubted that. He'd seemed so panicked about being late that he seemed to have been tuning everything else out.

_'Late for what, I wonder...'_ I thought to myself, biting my lip as I peered closer into the hole.

My hand suddenly slipped, the loose bit of earth crumbling away beneath my weight. A scream escaped my lips as I fell into the vast hole, and into a new chapter of my life.

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**Harley: I hope you guys enjoyed this. If I get some good feedback I'll continue. Also, this fanfiction is named after a song. Can anyone tell me the artist? I want to see how many people can guess right.**

**Please review, and tell me what you think!**


	2. Strange

**Harley: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited. I hope you'll all enjoy and keep reading.**

**Also, the song that this Fanfic is named after is the song by Imagine Dragons.**

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Chapter 2 - Strange

_"All I feel is strange, strange_

_In your perfect world_

_So strange, strange_

_I feel so absurd in this life_

_Don't come closer_

_In my arms_

_Forever you'll be strange,_

_Like me."_

_-Strange by Tokio Hotel_

**Sakura Haruno**

For a few seconds, all I could see was darkness. There was no light, and all I could hear was the screams being ripped from my throat as I free-fell through the air. I couldn't feel any walls around me, almost as if the hole had opened wider. I was flipping back and forth, no longer able to tell up from down accept for the distinct pull of gravity. My head was spinning, and I felt another panic attack scratching at my insides. There was no way for me to take in air with all the screams coming from my mouth, my fear reaching its peak as I felt death creeping upon me. I was afraid that I wouldn't survive the fall.

Suddenly, as though I'd broken through an invisible barrier, there was blue all around me. A familiar blue and green, all around me and as far as the eye could see. It was almost like the ocean, like I was somehow falling through deep fathoms of water. But, I could still breathe (partially) and my fall hadn't slowed down. In fact, my speed had intensified the second I hit the blue.

My screams were suddenly drowned out by the sound of ticking. So much ticking, it was everyone. Thousands of ticks, all at different times and intervals. They swallowed up all the noise in the air, making my head ring. From what I'd managed to catch, I could see clocks all around me. They were all different shapes, sizes, colors, and sounds. They, however, didn't even seem to be falling. They were merely floating in the fake ocean, all ticking loudly and invasively.

Just when I thought that I would never reach the end, that I would fall for the rest of my life, all the clocks struck the hour. The resulting chimes shook the air forcefully, tossing me around ungracefully. I forced myself to keep my eyes open, feeling the chimes striking within the roots of my teeth and rattling in my chest. It felt as though with each chime, my body would almost burst from the pressure. Each chime struck down on me like lightning, seizing all of my bones and tissue with every pound.

I covered my ears and squeezed my eyes shut to try and block out the noise, but I knew that it was all in vain. Even though it made the noise a little less intense, it didn't stop the chime from shaking my body and pushing down on me.

I was so absorbed with that, however, that I didn't notice my fall had been slowing down to a gentle stop until my knees suddenly touched ground. The second my skin brushed smooth marble the chimes and ticking stopped completely, leaving me in total, complete silence. It was unnerving, the silence, and my body and ears were still aching from the abnormal chiming.

After a moment, when my teeth stopped shaking and my head felt a bit clearer, I opened my eyes. There was no more vast, blue ocean around me. Instead, I was in a room. A room with a ceiling. If I hadn't been confused before, I was definitely confused then. Nothing was making any sense, and part of me believed that I'd passed out from exhaustion back on the forest floor and had concocted this insane dream from all the stress and pain I'd been feeling.

It took a moment for my eyes to completely focus, and for me to realize that even after all the screaming I'd done and all that panic I'd went through, my lungs were working just fine. They expanded and deflated so easily, one would've never been able to tell that I was a sickly type of person. It was completely bizarre, but once again I chalked it up to being another perk of my oxygen-deprived hallucinations.

I slowly uncurled myself, sitting back on my knees. Looking around, I could see that the room was of very old architecture. The wall and floor boarders were intricately designed and a dark mahogany. The walls were a pale peach color, a subtle pastel against the dark, contrasting boarder. The floor beneath me, however, was solid and smooth like marble, and was the pattern of a chess board.

Everything looked... old, to put it simply. The walls were faded slightly, the floor looking a little scuffed. Everything was clean, but well worn. This room looked like it'd seen its fair share of years.

I looked around, but all I could see was an old table, matching mahogany with the boarders. I looked around a bit more, and finally found a door. There was, however, a rather big problem. The door was only about a foot tall. There was no way for me to fit, ever. Sadly, it was the only way out. I had nothing to try and break the wall with, and even if I did have something there would be no telling if the wall would actually come down. Just because it looked older didn't mean it didn't have any strength left to it.

Reaching up, I curled my fingers around the edge of the tall table next to me. Shakily, I pulled myself onto my feet. The room gave a dangerous lurch, but after a moment of keeping myself on my feet the spell passed. Once I was properly upright and no longer on the verge of passing out, I got a better view of the room, and the top of the table.

Sitting innocently on top of the surface and looking completely out of place, was a single bottle.

It was shaped almost like a cube. It was about six inches on each face, aside from the top where a short bottle neck sprouted, corked properly. Inside I could see the liquid was a mixture of blue and green, literally. The liquid was filled with swirls, blue and green dancing around each other but never mixing. It was like I was staring at the before picture of the fake ocean I'd fallen through, the basic colors that had yet to mix and make that same oceanic shade.

However, after picking the glass bottle up and shaking around a few times, I noticed that the liquid inside had no intention of mixing the colors. The swirls shifted and twisted in different directions as I handled the bottle, but it stubbornly refused to mix together. I also noticed that the colors made the liquid look thick like paint, but it swished around easily as though it was simply water.

After making my inspection, I spotted the tag tied around the bottle neck.

Brows furrowing, I cradled the paper tag in my hand as I read aloud. "Drink me."

It was handwritten in a curvy and elegant signature, and that was all it said. There was nothing on the back of the tag either, it was only the simple instruction on the face of the paper.

Now, I was raised properly. My mother and father were always good about teaching me right from wrong, and I'd like to think that I've got that area down pat. One thing I'd always known, was never drink strange liquid that you didn't know to origin of. That was something most children were made to understand at a young age.

However, I was also convinced that the whole thing was a dream and that I would soon wake up, hopefully in hospital after being found and not still laying on the grassy forest floor.

So, after a moments hesitation, I found myself uncorking the bottle and taking a delicate sniff of it.

A dmouth-watering sweet, almost fruity, aroma wafted up to my nose. It made a pleasant tingle pass through me, my body warming up a little. I took a few more sniffs, oddly attracted to the smell. Wondering what else could possibly happen, I brought the bottle lip to my mouth, tilting it slightly and letting a small mouth-full of the liquid pour in.

The second the liquid touched my tongue, I wanted to retch. I quickly set the bottle down, corking it quickly as my body began to convulse in disgust. I wanted to spit the drink out, but for some reason my mouth and throat had puckered. I was unable to spit it out, and the only way to get the taste from sitting and sloshing inside my mouth was to swallow it down. A shudder of utter disgust rolled down my spine as the liquid slithered down my throat.

My tongue and throat were tingling, the awful taste still lingering inside of my mouth. I had nothing to compare it to, no way to describe how utterly horrible it had tasted. All I knew was that it'd made my inside writhe and chest heave, but had dried my mouth out to the point of being unable to spit it out. It was like a lure, it drew you in with its tantalizing smells and once it had you you had no choice but to succumb to it.

"Ugh, disgusting," I spat, rubbing my tongue against my sleeve a couple times to try and get rid of the taste lingering in my mouth.

It took me a few seconds to notice that I was shrinking.

"What the hell?" I muttered, looking down at my body as I saw myself, clothes and all, shrinking down to unimaginable sizes.

Even my backpack, which was somehow still slung around my shoulder, was shrinking down with me.

_'I didn't know that I would be capable of cooking up such a bizarre fantasy. I don't think my dreams have ever felt this real,'_ I thought to myself, just as my body stopped shrinking.

Everything looked colossal now. The table towered over me and looked like a mountain. The ceiling was as high as the sky, and the once small room looked like a wide open space. I felt almost alone, the sheer massive size and emptiness of the room settling down upon my shoulders. The feeling, doubled by recent events, made me feel even more sick to my stomach. I wanted nothing more then to curl in a ball and go to sleep, which made no sense considering that I _was_ asleep.

Wasn't I?

_'Of course I am,'_ I scoffed, slowly making my way around the massive table leg.

Peaking around it, I saw the small door that I'd spotted once before. The realization that I was small enough to fit then hit me, and I jogged over to it quickly. The door would've fit the build of the room if it hadn't been so small. The wood was the same as the borders, with golden handles.

Taking the handle in my hand, I pulled the door open and took a step forward.

My foot touched grass, and the moment my second foot was placed next to it I heard an odd zipping noise coming from behind me. I spun around, only to see that there was no door longer a doorway behind me and that I was in the middle of a large forest.

One of the first things I noticed was that I was normal sized again. That, and that everything was either an emerald green or earthy brown color, with very few other colors popping up here and there. Hues of bright green and muddy brown were everywhere, and I could hear birds singing in the trees above me. The most odd thing, though, was that they seemed to be chirping a tune. The carried notes in a music song, several different tones and calls joining in at the appropriate time.

"I hate my dreams," I decided, finally.

I was amazed by the strange beauty clinging around me, but I was exhausted. What was the point of passing out or being asleep if I was simply going to feel tired? I wasn't in the mood for trekking through a strange forest, but it seemed as though I had absolutely no other choice. So, I put on my big girl panties and started walking in a random direction.

I had absolutely no way of telling if I would find something, or simply walk on forever.

* * *

Forest for miles, that was all that I'd seen. Trees, bushes, flowers, and other plants. Extremely strange plants that I'd never seen before. Even some of the flowers and trees looked bizarre. Some of them almost seemed to have patterns, other had strange colors, and many of them had both. There were small rivers and ponds that I'd come across, each one the color of a translucent turquoise. But, aside from pure nature, I'd found nothing. I'd stuck to my direction, too, so that I hopefully wouldn't become more lost than I already was.

Aside from the nature, I'd seen nothing else. No animals, bugs, or people. I could still hear the birds, and sometimes I felt as though there were eyes at my back when I could bushes ruffling. It was rather strange. Everything sounded very lively, from what I could hear from the birds, but was unable to spot another living being with my own eyes, including Naruto.

I was completely exhausted, however, and as my muscles began to ache and my limbs grew heavy, I was beginning to think that it wasn't a dream. It was much to real at that point, even if it had been before I could no longer deny it at that point. When everything felt so heavy and pained, it was time to reconsider my thoughts.

I'd never really had thoughts on magic, or anything like that. I never disbelieved in it, but I could never completely say that it was real, either. But, somehow, I was here in this strange place with no guidance. I'd fallen through the see, been tormented by time, and had to shrink down to the size of a doll. Things like that didn't happen. It just was much too odd to consider, but there I was, considering it. I knew it couldn't be anything else but real, not with how in control and pained I felt.

For reason, though, I felt an odd sense of comfort. Even though I had every right and reason to panic, I didn't feel the need to. Part of me felt like I was completely out of my element, a blemish on this beautiful, weird world. I was someone who'd been used, and I felt so improper being there. But another part of me felt like it was right, like I belonged there. Each times I breathed in and my lungs accepted the air without a fuss, it felt right. Even though I was lost, wondering the woods was almost calming. I felt like I was living and breathing along with the forest, letting its gentle forest song sooth my nerves.

I could feel my inhaler pressing against my thigh through my pocket, and felt comforted to have it there. However, I also felt like there was no need. I was breathing fine, even after trekking in the woods for what felt like hours. That wasn't normal for me, not at all. I couldn't go through strenuous bouts of labor without go into a coughing fit, but the only tickle I'd felt in my throat was one of thirst.

_'It's really strange... It's like something about this place makes my lungs more cooperative...'_

Just as I was about to take a break, my knees on the verge of giving and my shoulders slumped, I heard a certain clatter. I could hear something similar to crockery being clinked and slid, and the gentle mumble of conversation being shared. Above all that I could hear a light tune of violins, bringing a certain panache to the sound of merriment.

Hurriedly, I began to make my way towards the noise with renewed strength. I could tell there was lots of people. Hopefully they would be people that would be willing to help me understand where exactly I was. That, and a place to rest.

I could see a break in the trees ahead of me, the sounds getting louder as I neared. I could smell food, too. A thick, delicious smell was in the air. It smelled like sweet dough, obviously some kind of freshly made baked dessert. Just the thought of something to eat made my mouth water, but I made a mental note to not trust what smelled good. I'd already been misled once by the shrinking drink.

Once I broke through the trees, all noises stopped and the sweet smell was snatched from the air so quickly, it was like it'd never been there. I could hear no people, nor the sound of dishes. Even the birds has stopped singing, and I no longer felt connected with the forest. I felt as though I'd been severed from happiness, my insides turning cold.

Everything that had lead me to believe that I'd found some kind of party stopped the second I'd entered the clearing.

What I saw before me was destroyed remains of what once seemed to be a happy place.

The trees were burned, all dead and without any leaves. They were blackened and charred, lifeless and silent without any leaves to whisper with. Some of them were even hacked down to stumps, others scarred with what looked like marks of a blade. There was no green grass, what little grass was there looked to be a crunchy yellow. It, too, was damaged beyond living again. The whole clearing looked like a battle ground, and what was in the center was even more disheartening.

There was a long table stretched out for many feet, but looked just as defeated as the rest of the clearing. One half of it had collapsed, broken plates and tea cups littered all around. There were very few chairs actually left standing, and even less of them looked actually safe to sit on. Wooden chair legs and arms were scatter all around, broken and without form. The checkered table cloth was burnt and full of holes, stained here and there with what looked to be blood. Blood so old that it was the color of bricks, dark and solid.

Something awful had happened there, but I had no time to comprehend it because I was much too busy staring at the lone figure seated near the middle of the table, on the side that hadn't collapsed. He has his legs kicked up on the table, one leg crossed over the other languidly. His arms were tucked across his chest and into his sides comfortable, and his head was dipped down as though he were merely sleeping.

It was a man, as far as I could tell. He wore a tailed coat that once looked to be a deep emerald, but had darkened further with time. It had a few rips from being often worn. I could see a white button up and blue vest peaking out from between the buttoned coat and the green handkerchief tied around his neck. Atop his head was a black, worn top hat. There was a blue sash tied around the bottom, with small pins sticking out of it.

As though sensing both my presence and my stare, the man lifted his head up.

I froze completely, finding myself staring at another familiar, yet almost unfamiliar, face.

It was Pein, the senior from my school. His face was still pierced up, his hair still orange, and his skin still milky pale. What was off, however, were his eyes. They were the same lazy blue, but had become ringed and had no whites. They showed nothing, absolutely no emotion crossing them. While the Pein I somewhat knew was a bit antisocial, he wasn't this blank and emotional repressed.

His ringed gaze was very easy to become lost in, but I was pretty much jolted from my recognition and interest when he withdrew both if his tucked arms from his sides, thrusting them out in my direction and was pointing what looked to be two double-barrel pistols at me. He did all of this with a blank face, as though he wasn't threatening to riddle me with bullet holes until I no longer moved.

My whole body froze, fear igniting within my veins. I could feel my head suddenly get more light and dizzy, my lungs heaving slightly in an effort to keep up with the panic suddenly flooding me. The weight of my body and all the strain that had been put on it was finally coming down on me, with the added treat of seeing two very lethal looking guns pointed right at me.

I wasn't someone who fainted often. In fact, I've only done it one or twice. But suddenly, almost like my strength had been stolen from me, I found myself falling to the ground limply.

Once my back hit the dirt with a painful thud, I heard hurried footsteps make their way to me and disturbing the dead grass with loud crunches. My clouding vision could barely make Pein out as he crouched over me, his eyes looking into mine curiously. For a few seconds we stayed connected, before my body gave one last shudder of effort and my eyes rolled back into my head.

* * *

**Harley: There you go! I hope you guys enjoyed!**

**If you hadn't noticed, I'm going for the more dangerous kind of Hatter.**

**Please take the time to drop a review for me if you liked this any, I'm still in the process of decided whether I should keep writing and I would really enjoy the feedback.**


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